Charles H. Grasty
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Charles Henry Grasty (March 3, 1863—January 19, 1924) was a well-known American newspaper operator who at one time controlled '' The News'' an afternoon paper begun in 1871 and later '' The Sun'' of
Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
, a morning major daily newspaper, co-founded 1837 by
Arunah Shepherdson Abell Arunah Shepherdson Abell (August 10, 1806 – April 19, 1888) was an American publisher from New England who was active in Pennsylvania and Maryland. Born in East Providence, Rhode Island, Abell learned the newspaper business as an apprentice at ...
(A.S. Abell),
William Moseley Swain William Moseley Swain (May 12, 1809, in Manlius, New York – February 16, 1868, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) was a 19th-century American newspaper journalist, publisher, editor and newspaper owner and businessman. He was one of the founders ...
and recently joined by Grasty with a companion afternoon edition entitled ''The Evening Sun'' in 1910. Grasty was named among the great American newspaper publishers and owners, such as James Gordon Bennett, Benjamin Day,
Joseph Pulitzer Joseph Pulitzer ( ; born Pulitzer József, ; April 10, 1847 – October 29, 1911) was a Hungarian-American politician and newspaper publisher of the '' St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' and the ''New York World''. He became a leading national figure in ...
and
William Randolph Hearst William Randolph Hearst Sr. (; April 29, 1863 – August 14, 1951) was an American businessman, newspaper publisher, and politician known for developing the nation's largest newspaper chain and media company, Hearst Communications. His flamboya ...
. Grasty owned the ''Evening News'', which had been founded in the early 1870s and utilized the new illustrative technology of using woodcuts illustrations plates to show pictures spread across its pages before the advent of reprinting photographs directly on newspaper pages. During Grasty's tenure ''The News'' built its elaborate tall headquarters and printing plant with a corner clock tower on the southwest corner of East Baltimore and South Streets directly across the street from ''The Sun''s older architectural landmark " Sun Iron Building" of 1851, on the southwest corner, constructed of newly popular
cast iron architecture Cast-iron architecture is the use of cast iron in buildings and objects, ranging from bridges and markets to warehouses, balconies and fences. Refinements developed during the Industrial Revolution in the late 18th century made cast iron relative ...
style and supposedly fireproof and an early version of a tall commercial office building that gained increasing popularity in American big cities known as the skyscraper. Grasty ran ''The News'' for a number of years greatly increasing its circulation and cultural and civic impact on the city as its leading afternoon paper and later sold it prior to briefly acquiring the ''Minnesota Dispatch'' and the '' St. Paul Pioneer Press'' in the Upper Midwest in separate transactions then later divesting these newspapers to return again to
Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
to seek ownership of ''The Sun'' with a syndicate of wealthy backers. Grasty was also one of the developers of the new northern suburban
Roland Park Roland Park is a community located in Baltimore, Maryland. It was developed between 1890 and 1920 as an upper-class streetcar suburb. The early phases of the neighborhood were designed by Edward Bouton and Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. History J ...
community in the early 1890s by the Roland Park Company development firm, said to be an early innovation in community planning, including planned shopping centers and other aspects of the community prior to being offered for sale and development.


Early life

Charles H. Grasty was born March 3, 1863, in
Fincastle, Virginia Fincastle is a town in Botetourt County, Virginia, United States. The population was 755 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Botetourt County. Fincastle is part of the Roanoke Metropolitan Statistical Area. History The town of Finc ...
, the son of a
Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...
minister, the Reverend John Sharshall Grasty, and the former Ella Giles Pettus. He was a bright youth and taught
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while in
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when there were limited small numbers of secondary schools and students in the early 1880s. At age 16, he entered the
University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus University of Missouri System. MU was founded in ...
to study law, but left before graduating to enter the newspaper business. He stayed on at a summer job reporting for the ''Mexico Intelligencer'' paying $6 a week, and then was offered $7 a week to join the '' Kansas City Star'', where he rose to managing editor within 18 months. In 1890, he married Leota Tootle Perrin, a woman with a daughter from another marriage named Sarah Perrin. That same year, Grasty became the general manager of the ''Manufacturers' Record'', a weekly business journal in
Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
, leaving the ''Kansas City Star''.


Newspaper career

Grasty was involved in developing
Roland Park Roland Park is a community located in Baltimore, Maryland. It was developed between 1890 and 1920 as an upper-class streetcar suburb. The early phases of the neighborhood were designed by Edward Bouton and Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. History J ...
a new planned neighborhood in north Baltimore by the Roland Park Company in the early 1890s, when he also assembled investors to back his acquisition of '' The Evening News'' in 1892, two decades after its founding, now one of the largest circulation papers in town. Through the pages of ''The Evening News'' he attacked local political corruption, ran sensationalist stories on highly illustrated pages using new technology for reprinting sketches and drawings resembling photographs to catch the readers eye rather than the traditional lines of text. But at the same time maintained political independence. He came out against the then half-century old competing newspaper of '' The Sun'' as a rival for its willingness to ignore Baltimore political corruption, though over a decade later, he would return to take control of that newspaper. His efforts to root out corruption in Baltimore politics ensured the loss of power by longtime incumbent Democrats under
Arthur Pue Gorman Arthur Pue Gorman (March 11, 1839June 4, 1906) was an American politician. He was leader of the Gorman-Rasin organization with Isaac Freeman Rasin that controlled the Maryland Democratic Party from the late 1870s until his death in 1906. Gorman ...
, who lost the
United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...
seat from which he had dominated Maryland politics for years. In addition, he saw the unseating of I. Freeman Rasin, Gorman's ally and "Boss" along with John J. "Sonny" Mahon who were in control of Baltimore, who was defeated for City Council. Grasty's 1893 accusations against Democratic politicians for their involvement in gambling schemes earned him a libel suit for slander from one of his political targets, which he won anyway. The
Great Baltimore Fire The Great Baltimore Fire raged in Baltimore, Maryland from Sunday, February 7, to Monday, February 8, 1904. More than 1,500 buildings were completely leveled, and some 1,000 severely damaged, bringing property loss from the disaster to an estimate ...
of February 1904 took down much of the city's central business district including the ''Evening News'' Building and ''The Suns'' "Iron Building". ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' agreed to print ''The News'', and Grasty turned to Adolph S. Ochs, publisher of ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' to use the unused printing facilities of the ''Philadelphia Times''. Ochs essentially gave Grasty the machinery. Grasty rebuilt the News and reopened within weeks. It is said that within 16 hours of the Fire, Grasty had acquired a new plant and three new printing presses for $150,000. "First Press Is Here", ''Baltimore American'', Feb. 12, 1904; Charles Grasty to Richard Mansfield, June 30, 1906, NYPL/ms; See ''Mencken: the American iconoclast'' By Marion Elizabeth Rodgers. On June 18, 1906, Grasty and Gen.
Felix Agnus Felix Agnus (4 July 1839 – 31 October 1925) was a French-born sculptor, newspaper publisher and soldier who served in the Franco-Austrian War and the American Civil War. Agnus studied sculpture before enlisting to fight in the Franco-Austria ...
(owner of the ancient ''
Baltimore American The ''Baltimore News-American'' was a broadsheet newspaper published in downtown Baltimore, Maryland until May 27, 1986. It had a continuous lineage (in various forms) of more than 200 years. For much of the mid-20th century, it had the largest ...
'') teamed up to purchase ''The Baltimore Herald'' at the northwest corner of St. Paul and East Fayette Streets whose building had been ruined by the Fire, just across to the west from the untouched new massive City Circuit Courthouse, just completed four years earlier on the northern edge of the "Burnt District". They promptly shut it down, putting its nascent editor
H.L. Mencken Henry Louis Mencken (September 12, 1880 – January 29, 1956) was an American journalist, essayist, satirist, cultural critic, and scholar of American English. He commented widely on the social scene, literature, music, prominent politicians, ...
out of work for a time and divided its assets for their existing newspapers. Grasty sold the ''News'' on 27 February 1908 to chain-maker Frank A. Munsey for $1,500,000. Grasty attempted to remain on as general manager, but resigned within weeks due to disagreements. Later in 1908 he bought a half-interest in a Minnesota evening paper called the ''Dispatch''. Early the next year he bought the '' St. Paul Pioneer Press'', which had both morning and evening editions, and combined its evening edition with the ''Dispatch''. Grasty's style was not well accepted in the Twin Cities and he soon sold the papers back to their original owners and took an extended trip to Europe. However, Grasty was already eyeing ''The Baltimore Sun'', which was still run by the Abell family. Grasty found investors and struck a deal with the ''Sun'' founders to leave them with a majority stake, but took for himself preferred shares that guaranteed absolute control of ''The Sun'' by him personally. The Abells relented out of fear that Grasty would roll up the local competing papers and compete against ''The Sun''. After taking control of the ''Sun'', Grasty acquired the ''Baltimore World'' at auction in April 1910 for $63,000, overpaying, but fearing a play by William Randolph Hearst to enter the Baltimore market. Grasty retired in 1915 and went to Europe as a war correspondent for the ''Kansas City Star''. He returned to the U.S. in 1916, served as the Treasurer for ''The New York Times'', before boredom caused him to return to Europe and his work as a war correspondent. In 1918 he published a book, ''Flashes from the Front''. He continued living in London and working as a war correspondent for the ''Times'' until his death. He wrote a number of pieces that were published in the Atlantic while he was a correspondent in London.


Roland Park

Grasty was one of the investors of
Roland Park Roland Park is a community located in Baltimore, Maryland. It was developed between 1890 and 1920 as an upper-class streetcar suburb. The early phases of the neighborhood were designed by Edward Bouton and Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. History J ...
, a suburban development in Baltimore at about the same time that he first acquired the Evening News. Grasty lived at Fryer and Caprons in Roland Park, which today is the corner of Woodlawn Ave and Upland. The Roland Park development was said to be an innovation in early development of planned communities. Roland Park included a "store block" arranged in a linear pattern along a street to serve the commercial needs of a planned residential community. Similar store blocks were built in Los Angeles 1908 for the College Tract on West 48th St.http://homepage.mac.com/oldtownman/soc/shoppingcenter.html ; http://www.baltimoremd.com/streetcar/carstock.html


Politics

By 1911, Grasty used the pages of ''The Sun'' to back Democrat
Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...
in his successful bid for the Presidency in the
Election of 1912 The following elections occurred in the year 1912. Asia * 1912 Chinese National Assembly election (first election for the newly founded National Assembly of the Republic of China) * 1912 Philippine Assembly elections Europe * 1912 German federa ...
against Republican incumbent President
William Howard Taft William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) was the 27th president of the United States (1909–1913) and the tenth chief justice of the United States (1921–1930), the only person to have held both offices. Taft was elected pr ...
and former President
Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...
of the then-new Progressive (Bull Moose) party.


Later life

From 1915 until his death in 1924, Grasty lived mostly in London, where he also died. He was known as the local connection for information, and was at the
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near Paris in 1919 to discuss the issues ending
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. While living in London, Grasty fathered a daughter, Joan "Winifred" Bennett Grasty, with an Englishwoman named Louisa Bennett in 1919. Grasty and his wife Leota had no natural children together. Grasty remained involved in the life of his daughter, and paid for Joan's education in France and later moved Joan and her mother Louisa to the United States, where he financed their living. Grasty died January 19, 1924, and left Joan as his sole heir. Joan had only one child, Pete Robinson.


Career highlights

*Managing editor, ''Kansas City Star'' (1884–1889) *Publisher, ''Baltimore Evening News'' (1892–1908) *''St. Paul Dispatch'' and ''St. Paul Pioneer Press'' (1908–1909) *President and general manager, Baltimore Sunpapers (1910–1914) *War correspondent, ''Kansas City Star'' and Associated Press (1915–1916) *Treasurer, ''The New York Times'' (1916–1917) *Special editorial correspondent, ''The New York Times'' (1917–1924) *Director, Associated Press (1915–1916)


Books

*''Flashes from the Front'' (New York: Century, 1918)

*Cited as a source for '' :wikisource:The Literary Digest History of the World War, The Literary Digest History of the World War''


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grasty, Charles H. 1863 births 1924 deaths People from Fincastle, Virginia American newspaper executives The Baltimore Sun people Progressive Era in the United States 19th-century American newspaper publishers (people) 20th-century American newspaper publishers (people) Journalists from Virginia